CNN's GUT CHECK | for August 13, 2013 | 5 p.m.
– n. a pause to assess the state, progress or condition of the political news cycle

ALL EYES ON ISRAEL: Israel began releasing more than two dozen Palestinian prisoners late Tuesday, a gesture on the eve of new peace talks that have been complicated by plans for new Israeli housing in East Jerusalem.

Israeli officials approved the release of 26 Palestinian prisoners ahead of the Wednesday talks. The move came after Israel said it would forge ahead with a plan to build 900 housing units in East Jerusalem, which the Palestinians hope will be the capital of their future state. Israeli and Palestinian negotiators are set to resume long-stalled direct talks on Wednesday. – Samira Said

WEINER WHO? Bill de Blasio leads the most recent poll in the New York City mayor’s race with 30% of the Democratic electorate. The Quinnipiac University Polling Institute poll finds 24 percent of likely Democratic voters support City Council Speaker Christine Quinn, while 22 percent support former Comptroller William Thompson. Former Rep. Anthony Weiner, whose run has dominated attention on the race, is in fourth at 10 percent. Voters go to the polls in four weeks for each party primary.

MAURICE CARROLL, DIRECTOR OF THE QUINNIPIAC UNIVERSITY POLLING INSTITUTE, IN A WRITTEN STATEMENT: “A few weeks ago, Public Advocate Bill de Blasio looked like an also-ran. Today, he's the leader of the pack, and a winner in the runoffs. Follow the bouncing ball, folks. This line-up keeps changing.”

"Sixty years ago, American women began heading off to the workplace in droves. But in the last couple of decades, that trend has completely stalled out."

CNNMoney's Annalyn Kurtz writes the reason why: 26% of U.S. women still choose not to work.

In 1990, 74% of American women 25-54 participated in the labor force – meaning they had a job or were looking for one. That number has remained largely unchanged in the past 23 years.

Here are some key findings from the story:

"As of last year, America ranked 27th out of 37 developed countries for women's labor force participation, according to the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development."

"The United States remains the only major industrialized country in the world that doesn't mandate some sort of paid parental leave. The Family and Medical Leave Act, passed in 1993, entitles workers to 12 weeks of unpaid leave, but only applies to about 58% of American workers."

In the age of Sheryl Sandberg's "Lean In" and triumphant stories about female CEOs leading some of the nation's biggest companies, it certainly caught our eye that the number of women in the workplace hasn't gone up since Sinead O'Connor was rocking the billboard charts.

Leading CNNPolitics:Adding fuel to the fire: Hillary Clinton speech fans 2016 speculation
The early favorite to win the 2016 Democratic presidential nomination walks a tightrope. Hillary Clinton has said she is in no hurry to decide whether she'll seek the White House. But the former secretary of state, first lady and senator stokes the assumption that she's in the game for a second time with every move she makes. – Dan Merica

Leading Drudge:Obamacare Cost Caps Delayed Until 2015
First, there was the delay of Obamacare’s Medicare cuts until after the election. Then there was the delay of the law’s employer mandate. Then there was the announcement, buried in the Federal Register, that the administration would delay enforcement of a number of key eligibility requirements for the law’s health insurance subsidies, relying on the “honor system” instead. Now comes word that another costly provision of the health law—its caps on out-of-pocket insurance costs—will be delayed for one more year. – Avik Roy for Forbes Magazine

Leading HuffPo:Or Else… Rubio Warns GOP Against Obama Risk
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) claimed on Tuesday that President Barack Obama might allow undocumented immigrants to stay in the U.S. by executive order if Congress doesn't act on reform. It's a move that immigration activists would like to see, but that Republicans argue would be a massive abuse of power. – Elise Foley

– Jeb Bush hits Obama on the Economy, calls it a 'phony’ recovery –REPUBLICAN JEB BUSH, FORMER GOVERNOR OF FLORIDA, AND JUSTIN VELEZ-HAGAN, IN AN OPINION EDITORIAL FOR POLITICO: "Amid mounting evidence, stacking confessions, and officials pleading the fifth, many find it hard to understand why the Obama administration’s best retort is to shrug off so-called scandals as “fabricated” and “phony.” The truth may be more ingenious than most of us realize. Continued bickering serves as a distraction from what should be the biggest scandal of all: the phony recovery."http://www.politico.com/story/2013/08/obamas-phony-recovery-jeb-bush-jr-justin-velez-hagan-95452.html#ixzz2brn5kuMu

– Cheney hits Enzi for Congress’ Obamacare deferrals –REPUBLICAN SENATE CANDIDATE LIZ CHENEY OF WYOMING IN A WRITTEN STATEMENT: “The hypocrisy is stunning but all too typical of how Congress works. Members cut special deals for themselves so they don’t feel the pain their laws inflict on the general public. That’s one of the reasons I’m running for the Senate—to end this self-serving, behind the scenes deal-making.”

– Councilman: 'Bob Filner needs to resign now' –MARK KERSEY, SAN DIEGO COUNCILMAN, IN AN INTERVIEW WITH CNN: "His record in office is really kind of irrelevant at this point. My heart goes out to the women who have come forward, more than a dozen now, as well as all those who have not yet come forward. As well as the 10,000 city workers who should not have to come to work every day under this cloud of controversy. Bob Filner needs to resign now."

– Coulda, shoulda, woulda –CONAN O'BRIEN ON HIS LATE NIGHT COMEDY SHOW: "The executives at Blackberry are considering selling off the company. That's right. It’s being called a very lucrative move by 'six years ago' magazine"

Sam Stein (‏@samsteinhp)
In which @realDonaldTrump sends a hand written note in response to a tweet i posted pic.twitter.com/I2MSz4qG1u

TRIVIA ANSWER from @DanMericaCNN

Cuban leader Fidel Castro turns 87 today.

Castro was born on this day in 1926. He came to power in 1959 after Gen. Fulgencio Batista fled to the Dominican Republic. Castro led Cuba through the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961 and the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962 - as well as years of embargo from the United States.

Congrats to Scot Shumski (@3kidsiseasy) for winning today's trivia. Although he got the number correct – 10 – he got the list of presidents wrong. Eisenhower was in power when Castro came to power and Castro “stepped down” before the Obama presidency.

soundoff(6 Responses)

"NC GOP: voter fraud "is both rampant and undetected" / How can you know former if latter is true?"

BECAUSE ELEPHANTS ARE HIDING IN THE STAWBERRY PATCH!!!!

August 13, 2013 05:13 pm at 5:13 pm |

Gurgyl

Can we now officially call these idiots as Rethuglicans.

August 13, 2013 05:34 pm at 5:34 pm |

ThinkAgain

"NC GOP: voter fraud "is both rampant and undetected" / How can you know former if latter is true?"

Voter fraud since 2000 (per a study conducted by News21 and funded by the Carnegie and Knight Foundations):
Among 600 MILLION votes cast, 2,068 cases of "election fraud" were alleged: this is a .000003 incidence of alleged election fraud.

Voter fraud is even rarer. Only 30.6% of the "election fraud" cases involved "voter fraud". That's 633 cases in 600,000,000.

"In-person" voter fraud is (according to the report) "virtually non-existent". With 600 MILLION votes cast, there were 10 CASES of alleged in-person voter fraud: this is a .000000001 incidence of alleged in-person voter fraud, the purported reason that Voter ID laws have been implemented in so many states.

Ah, but don't ever let the FACTS get in your way when being jerked around by your emotions is so much more fun ...

August 13, 2013 06:01 pm at 6:01 pm |

Richard

withing the last 30 minutes there was a heated debate in which once the liberal contributor finished her initial comments with one; e.g. there are 7,000,000 voters in NC. There are not half that many registered voters in NC, so according to her Math 3,000,000 voters will now be prevented from voting in NC. The Democrats have controlled the General Assembly, House and Senate since soon after the Civil War and controlled the voter districts for over 40 years and now that they have loss control and have to abide by conservative Ideologies they are acting like a child being punished for not making straight A's. The President has called Benghazi, the IRS targeting Conservative exempt organizations, the Attorney General using strong arm tactics to harass news reporters and their families "Phony Scandals" and now the liberal CNN contributor has called NC belief that there is enough voter fraud to enact laws requiring voters to present a picture ID before they will be allowed to vote. by this comment I'm asking CNN to conduct a poll of the military ground fighting units; e.g., SEALS, Special Forces (Green Beret), Marine Reconnaissance, 82nd Airborne, 100 and 1st infantry, the 3 Calvary is they believe that requiring voters to present a picture ID should be mandatory throughout the US. The results will be in the range of; 65% Yes; 20 No and 15 don't care. That's who protects your freedoms, with just one being the freedom to vote.

August 13, 2013 06:23 pm at 6:23 pm |

rs

Much like the GOP's anti-abortion activities really are focused upon closing women's health clinics, the key on the voting front isn't the ID- yes, they have problems (like not accepting IDs issued by state colleges and universities (NC)), but the real issue is closing polling places, limiting poll hours and shortening early voting.

That the GOP wraps itself in the flag as the party of freedom, then sets about to systematically udermine voters rights shows thes clowns to be disgustingly Anti-Americans. Perhaps they could run elections in Afghanistan instead.....

August 13, 2013 07:15 pm at 7:15 pm |

weebitwidd11e

They have a valid point. Those that are on fixed incomes can't afford the high fee for the Federal ID. You bet they will charge for it. The States charge as much as 35 bucks for the State ID. We have too many living pay check to pay check.